All Politics is now Global

The Tectonic Plates of Geopolitics Are Starting to Shift

The United States is currently waging economic warfare against one tenth of the world’s countries with cumulative population of nearly 2 billion people and combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $15 trillion.

These include Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea and others on which Washington has imposed sanctions over the years, but also countries like China, Pakistan and Turkey which are not under full sanctions but rather targets of other punitive economic measures.

In addition, thousands of individuals from scores of countries are included in the Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals who are effectively blocked from the U.S.-dominated global financial system. Many of those designated are either part of or closely linked to their countries’ leadership…

But in recent months it seems that America’s unwavering commitment to fight all of the world’s scourges has brought all those governments and the wealthy individuals who support them to a critical mass, joining forces to create a parallel financial system which would be out of reach of America’s long arm. Should they succeed, the impact on America’s global posture would be transformational.

The peak of American empire has already come and gone, a reality not yet widely appreciated due to the continued dominance of the global financial system by the U.S. dollar, still the world’s preeminent reserve currency. U.S. leaders have always used the USD as a weapon, but it’s only in recent years that geopolitical rivals and long-standing allies alike have started to come to an increasingly vocal understanding that the unipolar role played by the U.S. in the world’s centralized financial system is well past its expiration date.

I think history will show Trump’s decision to unilaterally scrap the Iran deal (JCPOA) was the catalyst that caused much of rest of the world to get serious about creating alternative financial rails on which to conduct global business. Nation-states the world over are coming to the obvious conclusion that it’s virtually impossible to execute independent foreign policy in the content of a global financial system so completely dominated by the U.S.

European countries that entered the Iran deal wish to remain in it, but this has been complicated by the Trump administration’s decision to use the global financial system as a weapon. Although this angered leaders across the pond back in May when it first went down, it was unclear whether they’d just roll over as usual. Months later, it appears perhaps not.

First, we saw comments last week from Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas. Here are a few excerpts from his widely read column published last week at Handelsblatt.

…

Those are strong words, words that have not been walked back since. In fact, other historic U.S. allies feel emboldened to echo similar sentiments. As reported by Bloomberg earlier today:

“With Germany, we are determined to work on an independent European or Franco-German financing tool which would allow us to avoid being the collateral victims of U.S. extra-territorial sanctions,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday during a meeting with press association AJEF. “I want Europe to be a sovereign continent not a vassal, and that means having totally independent financing instruments that do not today exist.”

“We have to react and strengthen Europe’s autonomy and sovereignty in trade, economic and finance policy,” Maas said in a speech in Berlin. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland also spoke at the event and said that her nation shares the goal of preserving a multilateral world order.

If this sort of talk was merely limited to a couple of European nations expressing frustration with SWIFT, I probably wouldn’t have written this post. Where it gets really interesting is when you compare the sentiments highlighted above with the extraordinary statement made by Pakistan’s recently elected Prime Minster Imran Khan in the clip below.

But that’s not all. Take a look at the following excerpts from an article written by Daniel Sneider,Lecturer in East Asian Studies at Stanford University, in Tokyo Business Daily.

Inside the national security bureaucracy, there is growing alarm over relations with South Korea. On the surface, President Moon and his government continue to support U.S. diplomacy and reinforce its messages to Pyongyang. But things are starting to shift, with Seoul telling administration officials that the nuclear issue is basically between the U.S. and North Korea and that they want to separate their engagement with the North from progress on that issue.

“We have a big problem coming with South Korea,” a senior official involved in the talks told me. “It has reached the point where the South Koreans are determined to press ahead. They no longer feel the need to act in parallel with us.”

Moon is planning a visit next month to Pyongyang. He is eager to proceed with projects such as rail and pipe lines that will run from South, through the North, to Russia and China, as he outlined in a recent address.

Taken together, we can see a big picture starting to emerge. Countries around the world, including many longstanding U.S. allies, are starting to very publicly express frustration with U.S. imperial bullying, as well as deep concern with the limits placed on national sovereignty by a unipolar world centralized in Washington D.C.

We’re beginning to see the emergence of a global consensus related to two crucial geopolitical perspectives:

A growing understanding that a world unilaterally controlled by an imperial U.S. which demands all other nations accept vassal status is no longer tenable.

Recognition that a more multi-polar world cannot truly come into being without displacing, or at the very least creating, a viable alternative(s) to the USD-centric global financial system.

These developments have not been lost on many in the beltway, which is precisely why U.S. tech giants are being rapidly weaponized in a struggle to maintain imperial dominance. While the seemingly coordinated deplatforming of Alex Jones was the canary in the coal mine, the tech giants have also moved against several countries seen as problematic when it comes to achieving full spectrum dominance of the U.S. empire, including Venezuela, Iran and of course Russia.

As I tweeted last week:

Notice how the tech giants are only really targeting imperial America’s geopolitical rivals.

Make no mistake about it, these companies are working on behalf of military industrial complex agendas and nothing else. https://t.co/NmxkNH9cYn

It’s really undeniable at this point. U.S. tech giants are merely extensions of the U.S. shadow government — complicit organs of the imperial state masquerading as private companies.

While unquestionably disturbing, I see recent moves by the tech giants as part of a desperate response to the huge cracks developing beneath the post-World War II geopolitical paradigm. A status quo confident in its position or role in the world would never resort to such blatant attempts at censorship. This is all rooted in fear, insecurity and a futile desire to hold onto a world that is vanishing.

I’ve discussed these themes continually over the years, but it’s nevertheless extraordinary to see it begin to play out. The tectonic plates of geopolitics are finally starting to shift. Slowly at first, rapidly later, and I expect the world to be entirely different in structure by around 2025.

Today’s post should be seen as an update to a four part series I published earlier this year. Links below.